tamer; tamest
1
: reduced from a state of native wildness especially so as to be tractable and useful to humans : domesticated
tame animals
2
: made docile and submissive : subdued
3
: lacking spirit, zest, interest, or the capacity to excite : insipid
a tame campaign
tamely
adverb
tameness
noun
tamed; taming
1
a
: to reduce from a wild to a domestic state
b
: to subject to cultivation
c
: to bring under control : harness
2
3
: to tone down : soften
tamed the language in the play
: to become tame
tamer
noun
Synonyms
Examples of tame in a Sentence
Adjective
The island's birds are quite tame.
They ran a pretty tame campaign.
Some people were shocked by the movie, but I found the story pretty tame.
Members of the audience were too tame to interrupt the speaker.
Verb
It took a while to tame the horse.
the people who tamed the Wild West
He struggled to tame his temper.
The government needs to do something to tame inflation.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2024
Drew McIntyre won a tame men’s Elimination Chamber that also set up multiple possible WrestleMania 40 matches.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
Confidence: Medium Sunday: Mainly sunny with a bit tamer breeze levels from the southwest, trying their best not to gust near 20 mph.
—A. Camden Walker, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Snow totals were tame around Milwaukee compared to many other parts of the state.
—Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2024
Last night was a tame one at the 96th Academy Awards, with few surprises as the frontrunners swept the main categories, including Christopher Nolan for Best Director and Oppenheimer, his film, winning Best Picture.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 11 Mar. 2024
Photo : Porsche Porsche 911 Even in its more tame forms, the 992-generation Porsche 911 is an unbelievable sports car that feels exquisitely built and carefully engineered.
—Kyle Hyatt, Robb Report, 1 Mar. 2024
Released the same year as Elvis Presley's own wildly successful yuletide album, A Jolly Christmas was seen as the tamer, more refined alternative to the King of Rock n' Roll and his swinging hips.
—EW.com, 16 Nov. 2023
In making their case, some critics point to an allegedly tamer version of the app in China, suggesting that ByteDance unleashed a more potent product in the U.S. to hook consumers and vacuum up their data.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2024
Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024
Still, Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank, said there’s a disconnect between the parts of the economy that are driving inflation and the parts the Fed is trying to tame through high rates.
—Rachel Siegel, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
The upshot: The Fed's ongoing campaign to tame inflation is far from over.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
The central bank’s policymakers started raising rates two years ago to try to tame inflation, which by mid-2022 was running at a four-decade high.
—Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2024
But Wednesday’s vote has turned into a contentious referendum on the celebrated CEO, who has struggled to tame the enormous problems that prompted his return in late 2022.
—Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
But that didn’t last long, and with the growing need to tame inflation, interest rates rose consecutively, introducing a new level of complexity for potential buyers who were now looking to purchase properties at an inflated price and at a higher interest rate.
—Frank Sorrentino, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
That, of course, is the main challenge: taming inflation and putting the country on a sustainable economic path.
—Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Many attempts were made to recapture him, but the swift-moving owl could not be tamed.
—USA TODAY, 26 Mar. 2024
Adjective
This might explain why Albers’s prints are sometimes deemed tamer than her textiles.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2024
Drew McIntyre won a tame men’s Elimination Chamber that also set up multiple possible WrestleMania 40 matches.
—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
Confidence: Medium Sunday: Mainly sunny with a bit tamer breeze levels from the southwest, trying their best not to gust near 20 mph.
—A. Camden Walker, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Snow totals were tame around Milwaukee compared to many other parts of the state.
—Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2024
Last night was a tame one at the 96th Academy Awards, with few surprises as the frontrunners swept the main categories, including Christopher Nolan for Best Director and Oppenheimer, his film, winning Best Picture.
—Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 11 Mar. 2024
Photo : Porsche Porsche 911 Even in its more tame forms, the 992-generation Porsche 911 is an unbelievable sports car that feels exquisitely built and carefully engineered.
—Kyle Hyatt, Robb Report, 1 Mar. 2024
Released the same year as Elvis Presley's own wildly successful yuletide album, A Jolly Christmas was seen as the tamer, more refined alternative to the King of Rock n' Roll and his swinging hips.
—EW.com, 16 Nov. 2023
In making their case, some critics point to an allegedly tamer version of the app in China, suggesting that ByteDance unleashed a more potent product in the U.S. to hook consumers and vacuum up their data.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2024
Verb
The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence from burial sites on other continents indicating that individual foxes were tamed by humans and shared a connection based on companionship.
—Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024
Still, Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank, said there’s a disconnect between the parts of the economy that are driving inflation and the parts the Fed is trying to tame through high rates.
—Rachel Siegel, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
The upshot: The Fed's ongoing campaign to tame inflation is far from over.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 10 Apr. 2024
The central bank’s policymakers started raising rates two years ago to try to tame inflation, which by mid-2022 was running at a four-decade high.
—Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2024
But Wednesday’s vote has turned into a contentious referendum on the celebrated CEO, who has struggled to tame the enormous problems that prompted his return in late 2022.
—Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
But that didn’t last long, and with the growing need to tame inflation, interest rates rose consecutively, introducing a new level of complexity for potential buyers who were now looking to purchase properties at an inflated price and at a higher interest rate.
—Frank Sorrentino, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
That, of course, is the main challenge: taming inflation and putting the country on a sustainable economic path.
—Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Many attempts were made to recapture him, but the swift-moving owl could not be tamed.
—USA TODAY, 26 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tame.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English, from Old English tam; akin to Old High German zam tame, Latin domare to tame, Greek damnanai
First Known Use
Adjective
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Time Traveler
The first known use of tame was
before the 12th century
Dictionary Entries Near tame
Cite this Entry
“Tame.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tame. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
tame
1 of 2 adjective
tamer; tamest
1
: changed from the wild state so as to become useful and obedient to human beings : domesticated
a tame elephant
2
: made gentle and obedient
3
: lacking spirit or interest : dull
tamely
adverb
tameness
noun
tame
2 of 2 verb
tamed; taming
1
a
: to make or become tame
tame a lion
b
: to subject to cultivation
wilderness tamed by farmers
2
: to bring under control : subdue
tame your temper
tamer
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on tame
Nglish: Translation of tame for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of tame for Arabic Speakers
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